Hidden
by Padawan Keladry of Masbolle
Summary: Keladry of Mindelan is to be sent home after her first year is completed. Fortunately, someone has left behind something that could be both helpful and detrimental to her. Helpful if she isn't caught and detrimental if she is. Join Kel on her mission to learn more about the mysterious man that left her some secrets and find out what she does with them. My First FanFiction ever.
1. Discover

Hello World of Fanfiction. I am Padawan Keladry of Masbolle and this is my first ever Fanfiction. Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Milady Tamora's works, I receive no monetary means for this work of fiction, and I only own the plot.

On with the story.

"You may go" said Lord Wyldon,

"I can't come back then", replied a tremulous Keladry of Mindelan, though she hid it well under a well practiced Yamani mask.

"No", stated the bald, but strangely handsome training master. "You shall be leaving for your Barony town houses in three bells time".

"Yes, My Lord," Kel bowed out of the room at the dismissal, turned to the the direction of her, now former, page rooms, and fled, refusing the tears the were forming access to her face. Only when she was safely within her refuge did she let them fall. Once she had vented her sorrow and anger onto her pillow, she looked up to find that her things had already been packed for her. Judging by the loving way her Lucky cats had been handled, she guessed that Salma and the young lady that Salma had taken under her wing, Lalasa, "Yes, that was her name" remembered Kel, had been ordered to pack for her.

She smiled fondly, only to remember with harsh reality the reason why her things had been packed in the first place. Not wanting to face her friends, mainly Neal, Kel decided to move her things colder to the door to save time later. As she moved, her large truck clipped the leg of her bed. "Former bed", she thought sadly. A thump echoed through the room following the collision causing Kel to frown. "Thump? I thought these beds were solid, which means it should go thud", she murmured to herself with a slight trace of humour. Upon further inspection of the bedpost in question, she found that a rod that had some sort of star shape at the end was required to access whatever might lay inside.

Thinking quickly, she retrieved a Yamani hair decoration used for only very specific and special ceremonies,and, while feeling that she was committing an act of sacrilege upon the hairpiece, worked the short threaded rod that impeded her way out. Once complete, Kel, propped her bed up with her trunk and removed the length of hollow, she discovered, wood, and carefully peered inside. With showed a roll of parchment that had quite clear, sat there for a long while.

Sitting upon a chair after ensuring her doors were securely locked, she carefully extracted the roll and spread it out. Upon it were the words written in an elegant scroll in a mans small writing which proclaimed

_ To whomever may find this letter, _

_ If you have come to find this, then it means many things. One of which is that I have died, for if I had not, I would have retrieved this and destroyed it. I hope I have died well, for a cause that I truly believe in, with no mage craft, black mail, coercion, or brain washing to blind me. Secondly, it means that you who are reading the are residing within my former page quarters. As well, I have made it so that this may only be found by those who are deemed worthy as designated by the charms bought for this purpose. I was assured that they would never wear off even if the caster died. _

_ As you have been deemed a worthy successor, I wish to impart a secret upon you, one that I hope you will use wisely and will aid you. I shall only tell you one thing at this time. The location of my journal in which many more important secrets of these chambers and those of the castle reside. It is held within a secret chamber in these very rooms. _

_ To access this as well as many others rooms that only I know know about in the castle, you must find beneath the picture depicting a Lion's Pride, a knothole that can be pushed in. It cannot be found unless you are explicitly looking and thinking about it at the time. I have made it so. Use the space wisely, use my words and secrets wisely, as well as what you are about to find. _

With Great Regard,

Knight of the Realm

Tortall

434 HE

_Alexander of Tirragen_


	2. Information

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Milady Tamora's works, I receive no monetary means for this work of fiction, and I only own the plot.

On with the story.

Thinking quickly, Kel struggled all of her things through the door that had miraculously appeared when she had pushed in the knothole as instructed in the note. Ensuring that her things were indeed gone from her former quarters, rehanging the picture, and replacing the leg, minus the letter, to the bed, she unlocked the door to her room, and for all outward appearances to her friends and family, she disappeared off the face of the Kingdom of Tortall. She slipped into the room, closing the door tightly behind her and watched as the crack of the door frame melted into the rest of the wall. She quickly and efficiently searched the room that she had hurriedly moved into, and discovered a map of the place she was in. Remembering that the late Sir Alex had mentioned his journal, she deduced that the most likely place for him to keep the said journal would be in the room marked on the map as library. With many references to the map and several starts as lights automatically came on in the form of torches on their brackets, she made her way to the room she was looking for. Cautiously opening the large wooden door, she felt, rather than heard a small gasp of wonder escape her person at the space in front of her.

The shelves were full from bottom to the very top shelves of the two story roof, and each section of shelf was very clearly marked as to the subject. There was everything from books on tactics and famous wars, to books of mage-craft, for both the gift-less to help them understand and what to look for, and the gifted which taught them several different aspects of their craft. A majestic fireplace was placed on the only wall where there were no book shelves, and where, Kel realized, the chimney of her quarters would also stand. A large solid oak desk was present in front of the fireplace. She sank into the chair at the desk, and when her brain caught up to her body, she looked down upon the desk to find two sets of four books. She decided to start with the journal, as alas, that is what they were, that had the earliest age carved into the side leather binding. Inside she found the inscription:

_Alex of Tirragen, 4th Year Page_

_Journal One_

_Start Date: 429 HE_

Turning the page, she discovered the first ever journal entry of one Alexander of Tirragen. Settling into her chair more deeply, she began to read.

_I discovered a fortress today, one that lay within the bowels of our glorious kingdom. I was practicing some thief techniques I overheard a dark haired man, boy really, mention while I visited the city today. I found them interesting, so I decided to see if it would reveal something about my room. He said that the most likely place for people to hide valuables or secrets is in safes hidden behind pictures. Safes were pale in caparison to what I found. Behind the picture of a huge running animal of some kind, the label at the bottom saying: "A Lion's Pride", I found a nondescript button in the form of a knothole in the wood. I had lost my balance being on tiptoe as I was, me being, unfortunately, due for my biggest spurt of growth. Losing my balance, I fell, knocking the knothole as I did so. Needless to say I was quite surprised when two sets of parallel lines formed, creating a massive door with the knothole being the knob. My cat-like curiosity got the better of me and I opened the door, which was completely silent, surprisingly, and walked inside. _

_A treasure trove of new rooms, scarcely furnished though, greeted me. As I began exploring, I found that there was a fully functioning living area. I found another door that led me down several flights of stairs, with landings every so often. As I descended, torches came to life and were, upon further inspection, charmed by some complicated looking runes. Starting at the first landing, another room was hidden behind a door. A quarter to half full large library found me in great awe, and there was also a fire place to be had, along with some regal looking armchairs. Wanting to discover more, I descended another set of steps to some across a small kitchen that required a good dusting. In fact, all the rooms required a good dusting. They all had clearly not been used for a long while. Descending to the bottom found me with a headache as I tried to digest the vast amount of information that bombarded me. It was then that I decided to start this journal as to keep everything straight and documented. I had noticed various empty notebooks in the library. The rooms that I came across consisted of, but were not limited to, a bedroom, a large walk in closet, a washing area, a clothes washing area, and area that held several old sets of fine clothing, some old linen and pillows, a workout area with some interesting looking equipment, a room with a full track, one with a fully functioning bathing area, and best of all, a half to three-quarters full armoury with training facilities. I made a mental note to come back and create a full log to document what this room contained, and to also note the condition the weapons were in. All of this was discovered with much turning and meandering. At the start of my more insistent yawning, I decided I should head back to my normal rooms before I was missed. That was when the slow, slinking cold sweat inducing feeling came to rear its ugly head. I realized I was lost…_

To Be Continued.


	3. New Start

_ After a bout of panic in which I told myself that I must take a deep breath and think rationally, I realized how glad I was that I had not cleaned as I traveled through the tunnels. I removed a lit torch from its bracket and lowered it until I could see the floor clearly. My foot prints showed through the thick layer of dust that had collected over the years. I followed my own path back to where I started and through the secret door to my regular quarters. Suddenly the map making class that I was so thoroughly bored with was my newest goal to master. As my head stopped spinning from the panic and the immense amount of interesting crevices I had just encountered, my heart slowed to its usual steady pace and I became quite tired. Lights out was upon me. _

Keladry of Mindelan did not show shock readily, but it was at this time that she was unable to keep her mask firmly in place. This set of rooms had opened numerous new possibilities for her. If the armoury and training facilities were as they were described in the first journal entry by Alex or Tirragen, then she could train in secret here. If she was careful she could find a way to watch or come by some sort of information that would help her become the fighter she always dreamed of being. She had learned enough during her first and final year in the training masters lessons to get her started, and when she had masters those aspects covered, then she could go about finding about other fighting techniques. Kel decided that the first thing she should do is prepare an area for her to live as comfortably as possible.

She followed the map she found spread out and tacked up against the only free wall within the library. Finding that there were four different bedrooms, she set out to discover them. The first one she found was very tiny and seemed to be set up for an infant. The second was obviously for the nanny as it was attached to the nursery room. The third and fourth were appropriate in age. The third was decorated with a rich gold, purple and red colour that was spread out in the form or wall paper, bed hangings and the bedspread and pillows. There was a closet, a wonderful mahogany desk and several sets of sturdy and well crafted bureaus. However, the fourth bedroom merely contained a bed frame and mattress set and little else. She chose the Third bedroom of course, and began shifting her things from the hallway at the secret door to the room and began making it habitable. She extracted her spare set of sheets from her trunk and stripped the bed of the old musty bed clothes. Deciding to wait and let the mattress and box spring to air out she set about exploring her new living area. The closet contained several sets of breeches and various fine tunics, some of which were page uniforms that had clearly been forgotten about and not returned. There was also some workout clothes and sturdy shoes and boots for both running and riding. Nearer to the back she found some mens unmentionables which she immediately decided to throw away, as, of course, she would not be requiring them.

Having completed her search of the walk in closet, she went throughout the bureau drawers and found a sizeable stack of old assignments that had been stored there. Kel took these back to the library with the intent to use them as learning tools. After consulting the map she found the small kitchen that was shown. Attached to this room was a closet that held all sorts of cleaning supplies. Buckets, mops, brooms and various scrub brushes, as well as several different cleaning agents. Selecting a large bucket and a soap she set about to find water. At the kitchen sink she discovered that the faucet was some sort of pump. Several attempts saw Kel finding some old oil and unstick the handle, and start the water flowing. She had to pump for quite a while to remove the stagnant water from the system. When the water began flowing clean, she filled the bucket and started to clean the rooms starting at the hallway where she had come in. Kel remembered seeing the washer women at the laundry and the women that were set tasks to clean and scrub the castle clean, and being slightly envious of their set of muscles. Kel decided that cleaning her new area would be a good idea for both her physical health and her training regime that she was determined to map out and keep. The muscles that she could build up just by doing something productive would be an excellent start.


	4. Sakuyo Laughs

Sorry! Here is the disclaimer. Please read and review. Should I keep going?

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Milady Tamora's works, I receive no monetary means for this work of fiction, and I only own the plot.

On with the story! _

It took Keladry four passes on each room to get them to a livable state, but they were by no mean the sparkling state of cleanliness Kel had expected of herself. However, she was drooping like a plant that has not been watered for weeks and left in the sun. She had completed the entrance hallway, the large entry room with the desk, the hallway down to her new room, and half of her new room. The floors in those areas were clean and dust free and the light brackets gave off more light now that the dust had been taken off so that the reflectors could do their work. She had also allowed the mattress and box spring of the bed to air out long enough and was able to make up her new bed with her clean bed clothes. She and eaten part of the food that had been sent from home, and some of the rolls that she kept in her trunk for her sparrows. She realized that she would very soon have to figure out a way to get food into her area, and make sure she bought things that were easily stored and had a long shelf life.

She made the decision to read one more journal entry before turning in. She washed up best she could using the small lavatory attached to the room, and got dressed for bed. She trotted as best she could up to the library to retrieve the journal she had been reading. Having done that and retiring to her room, she climbed into bed and began to read.

_Kingdom of Tortall_

_HE 438_

_Journal Entry Two_

_ I awoke when the bell rang, which was unusual as I always am up before that horrendous bell. Honestly, everyone learns to hate that bell at some point of their stay here at the palace. I completed my usual morning routine of light stretches and washing up for the day before I snapped out of my morning stupor and remembered everything that had the night before. My automatic reflex intake of breath caught me unawares and I choked, which unfortunately caught the attention of my year mates which were coming down the hallway heading for the morning meal. A pounding at my door was heard along with shouts of __"Hey Alex! You all right in there" ?_

_I caught my breath and reluctantly opened the door. I had wanted a few moments to go over what I had found, but there was no way to avoid going with the rest of the boys to breakfast now._

_ I had to endure the entire day of training and studies, and when I said endure, I only meant that I felt a growing anxiousness to get back to my room and look more thoroughly. The classes went as usual with more work shoved upon us, and more bruises bestowed. Honestly, the only class that I found interesting today was the map making class. As I read what I have written I am appalled with myself for my attitude. I usually enjoy everything we do here in page training and want to learn more, but today, everything just dragged out and I became flustered and frustrated. I was also embarrassed when the training master took me aside and asked me if something was wrong. I assured him that I was well and was only looking forward to my mapping work, which only rewarded me with a surprised expression upon his face. _

_ After the training master's dismissal, and the rest of my classes had been completed, I made my way to the mens bath and then to my quarters. I forced myself to complete my days assignments which included writing, mathematics, tactics, mapping and a full chapter on etiquette. For my mapping assignment I was to create a map of a building either from my imagination or from a room in the castle. I completed my other assignments and went about mapping my own bedroom for practice. This would be the assignment I handed into to the instructor of this course. I then locked my door and entered my secret rooms. _

_ Starting within the entrance hallway, I made my way through to the entrance room that contained large desk and several cabinets. It seemed to be an office and so I marked as such in the map I had been drawing. Turning to the left into a separate hallway, I found and marked a small area for boots, shoes and coats. I turned back to the office and continued my way down to the hallway. I marked the area where the stairs were as well as where the landings were. The first room I came across was the large library. Entering it, I mapped out which walls where for books and where the fireplace was, including the desk, and chairs. I also decided at this point to log the books that were here already and make a list of the ones that I would like to have within this library. These shelves were just begging for more books. Leaving the library, I continues down the hallway documenting the four bedrooms that looked like a nursery, nannies room, a parents room and a room for an older child, clearly now for a baby. The room had blue wall hanging and the bed spread was blue. The look was very sophisticated and very clearly royal. But the rooms had clearly been neglected for some time. _

_ The parents bedroom had a nondescript beige colour scheme, but was still delicately royal. It seemed that in my sub conscience, that I chose this room to be mine. Something just seemed to call me towards it. _

_ Faintly, I heard the bell ring for the lights out warning. Hurriedly, I placed the partially completed map upon the desk in the office area and scurried into my regular page rooms. I took the time to hide the entrance way properly before completing my nightly routine to get ready for bed. My assignments and books were set out within easy reach of the door for the next day, and I had laid out my clothes as well. I hoped to be able to do a few more rooms in the morning. I settled into my bed just as lights out was rung. All in all, it had been an eventful and exhausting day. _

Kel made the decision to study the map carefully in the morning. She did not want to miss one little detail about the rooms she now resided in. Another part of her wondered how she should go about retrieving food. Several questions entered her mind then. She wondered who would be living in her old page rooms, and she also wondered what her parents and friends, both animal and human, thought of her seemingly sudden disappearance. Her tired state truly hit her then and she giggled at the thought that even though she had disappeared from them, she was actually right there with them. They just couldn't see her, or find her. She laughed softly into her pillow.

"Sakuyo laughs"


	5. Discoveries Part One

Hello World of Fanfiction. I am Padawan Keladry of Masbolle and this is my first ever Fanfiction. Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Milady Tamora's works, I receive no monetary means for this work of fiction, and I only own the plot.

Hello Everyone, I want to say that due to only one review out of 44 visits, I am completely unsure if I should continue with this. Do people want this story? I am enjoying writing it, so I shall continue to do so, but I will not continue to post if no one else enjoys reading it. I cannot read your minds, so please let me know! (Please note that I am not begging for reviews, I am merely wanting to write what pleases, intrigues and entertains others, but as I said before, I cannot read your minds, you must tell me.)

On with the story.

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The following morning awakened Kel with the bell that woke the entire castle. "Great", she mumbled, "I can't even escape that bell".

Stiff and sore from her late night scrubbing session, she stretched lightly so that she wouldn't pull anything but enough so that she could move comfortably. She went about fixing herself a slightly meagre meal consisting of the rest of her stored rations which included the rest of some fruit cake and some more than slightly stale biscuits. She had searched the kitchens and had found some non perishable food stuffs in a cupboard and hoped that some of them would still be all right for a while. She knew the power of some of the freshening charms that were available and that dried jerky lasted for quite a while. She would merely have to check to make sure a few things were all right to eat while she searched for a possible solution to her eating issue, which would hopefully solve itself fairly soon, or she would either have to starve to death, or have to expose her whereabouts to everyone, to which neither were desirable.

Kel trotted down to the library and placed herself in front of the highly detailed map that hung on the wall. The bedrooms and library were only one wing of the rooms. There were seven others that held the small kitchen, dining and cleaning area, that bathing area (which would be her next stop), a training area, the armoury, and area marked with the universal sign of value, a G with two horizontal slashes through it, which perked Kel's curiosity, an area marked shrines, the last area was not marked with any sort of distinguishing marks as to what the room was exactly, but showed a desk, some chairs and some rooms that where off shooting from the main room. She decided to leave that area for last until she got used to the known areas and what sort of surprises they held. She surmised that there would be a few surprises in store for her. What she didn't know was how right she was.

She set off to the bathing area, and after discovering a fully stocked towel and soap rack, she went about figuring out how to fill the bath with water. She twisted a few nobs and nothing happened. She found a larger wheel and decided to try moving it, and to her immense surprise, a large trap door opened and water began flowing into the bathing area, which was shaped like a small pond. She figured that the taps were the old way of filling the bath until this water source had been discovered. When the bath was full, she found that the water stopped automatically so that the bath wouldn't overflow. She reached out to touch the water and nearly jumped when she felt that it was hot! Along with the very light scent of sulphur, she decided that the water source must have been some sort of underground hot spring. The water wasn't unbearably hot, so she stripped out of her filthy tunic and breeches and waded into the bath. She had set her chosen soaps at the edge of the pool and therefore picked one up and poured a dollop onto her hands before beginning to rigorously scrub her hair clean, that done, she moved onto the rest of her. Once she was so clean she could have sworn she would squeak, she climbed out and towelled her self off. Wearing the towel back to the room, she extracted a clean set of clothes that were easy to move in and got dressed. That done she set off to find the first new set of rooms she could find.

The kitchen and adjoining rooms, the bedrooms and library, and the bathing area were now fairly familiar to her. She came across the training area first and took in the room. The oversized room contained a track for running around the outside wall. In the centre she found several weights and excursive equipment that she had never seen before. Knowing and understand the dangers of trying to exercise in a new fashion without first knowing what you are doing, she decided to leave the equipment alone for now, thinking that there would be a book about them in the library somewhere.

She started out with an eight lap run around the room. Kel had underestimated the size of the room and had to push herself to complete the last two laps, even though that was two laps short of her original goal of ten. Afterwards she found the heaviest long weight she could find and completed two pattern dances, one simple and one complex, before decided to do some press ups that the Shang Wildcat had shown her. After completing as many press ups and sit ups she could manage, she left the room and set off to collect her scrubbing materials, intent on cleaning up another portion of the rooms.

Kel completed the other half of her new bedroom and then moved on to the nursery, nannies room, and the falling apart bedroom. She had no cause to use these rooms, but she understood how dust and grime liked to travel. She then moved on to the hallway from these rooms to the library. Much of the room was lit up brighter as the dirt and dust was washed away. On her way down the hallway and half way up a wall, she came across a button by accident. Pushing it in while she cleaned it, she gave a slight scream as a trap door opened up underneath her. She fell down what seemed to be a large and very long slide. Once at the bottom, she discovered the set of stairs that led up to the top again, and her panic subsided slightly. Looking around, she found a door that was latched shut. Carefully, she listened at the door and was greeted with the sounds of silence. Thinking quickly that this could solve a few of her problems, she flew up the stairs, for once not allowing her fear of heights hinder her as she went higher, and dressed in a servants outfit that had been located in one of the closets that she had discovered.

She covered her hair with a servants scarf and picked up the money bag she kept. Then she travelled to the door and slowly undid the latch. Opening it slowly, she found herself in the lower city, her having come through an abandoned hut at the edge of town. She looked around carefully and quickly before slipping through the door and memorizing the location and how the secret latch worked. She then began to roam the lower city. She found a shop where she was able to discreetly purchase a few more sets of breeches and shirts, as well as cleaning supplies and bathing materials. She then made her way to the market where she found some new non-perishable food stuffs, as well as some food that would last for only a few days at a time, mainly for her noon and evening meal. She completed her shopping spree just before her money pouch ran out, which made her realize that she had a new obstacle on her hands.

Kel moved aimlessly back to the door with her hands full of the fruits of shopping trip. Aimlessly as she did not want anyone to think she was acting suspiciously and follow her back to her hiding place, but not aimlessly enough to have people think she was shirking her servants duty. She had to keep up her own facade. Slipping through the door and back up the stairs, she smiled to herself. It seemed that her food shortage problem had been solved.

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Again, shall I continue posting? Or shall I stop and write what would entertain you more. Please let me know. I'm not a mind-reader


	6. Time

Hello Everyone!

Here is your next chapter! Thank you all for your support! I shall be continuing.

I will try to make the next chapter longer.

* * *

Over the next few weeks Kel was able to complete her cleaning of her main living areas, including the exercise area, the bathing area and all of the bedrooms and hallways leading around. All the floors and fixtures were also cleaned so they sparkled in every single one of the rooms she had discovered. She only need to clean the object within the armoury, another hidden office and the others.

Her days took on a slightly higher than comfortable routine. In the mornings she would clean for two bells time after her morning meal, and then she would do a series of sit ups, pull ups, pushups, and run x plus 1 laps progressively around the track. She had discovered a book about the weights that were set in one corner of the training area and with its guidance, had begun to use them to strengthen both her arms and her legs. She had also found a book about stretching properly, and had finally succeeded in doing the splits both ways. She had read that being flexible would be highly helpful in hand to hand combat. By the end of her first month living in that hidden area, she had begun to realize the noticeable difference in her fitness level.

After completing her morning routine and eating her mid day meal, she would head to the library and read about Tortallan and her surrounding land's history as a tribute to Sir Myles, her history teacher, before Kel had disappeared. She began to teach herself Scanran and Carthaki to add to her already fluent Yaman and Tortallan. She never knew if she might need to know it, but decided it would be fun to learn anyway. She had discovered all of Alex of Tirragen's old work and had worked through an eighth of the second year page's work. She took the used parchment, copied the problems and figured them out for herself, and then compared them to the corrected copies of his work. Mathematics was always very easy for her, and she took it up faster than the reading and writing work that was expected. She realized that the curriculum of ht pages might have changed some, but she couldn't do much about that now. She was still learning and that is what counted. She didn't want to fall too far behind.

Once she had completed the days learning that she had set out for herself, she read two journal entries of Alex's. Through these, she had discovered that there were other trap doors that led to different areas that he had discovered in similar ways that she had, by falling through them after accidentally bumping the right button. She had also read that he strived to become the best swordsman there ever was after another page, one older and bigger than he, had beaten him to a pulp while the instructors weren't watching during a swords class, taunting him, telling him that he was a weakling and would never survive the chamber. Now Alex just wanted to serve them wrong. He had begun to use the extra time in his secret rooms to practice as much as he could. His last visit to the city had been to buy books on the subject of sword fighting and the different styles of each country, and he began to teach himself some moves. By the end of his second year as a page, not only had he gone through his long overdue growth spurt, but he had been able to challenge the bullies properly and had beaten THEM to a pulp.

It had been during this match that he had caught the eye of one Duke Roger, who had then decided to wait two more years to take on a certain squire. He liked one with a bit of fire, but one that still had some gullibility left in him to shape them the way he, Duke Roger of Conte, liked them.

Kel had discovered these sword fighting books and had used them to learn the first basics of sword fighting. Since then, she had mastered these and was starting on the next few chapters on the footwork of the different styles of fighting.

After her afternoon work had been completed and she had eaten her evening meal. She dressed in mens clothes and as she had cut her own hair short, and then went to a barber's to have a proper hair cut, and now she looked enough like a boy to pass for at least another half year before other changes started to happen, but she would deal with those when they arrived.

She had found an empty courtyard wear a few young ladies of various ages trying to teach themselves ways to protect themselves from the under city Rats that preyed on the helpless. A week ago when she had discovered this she had established herself, or himself, as the girls there knew him. She had introduced herself as Kellan.

By doing this, she was able to practice her new hand to hand skills with other people, as well as cementing what she knew by teaching it. She finally knew what her teachers meant by you only knew how much you actually understood until you were able to teach it.

She had another month before she had to worry about who moved into her old room.

* * *

Who should move into her old room? Owen, Joren, Neal (out of tribute to his best friend?) Any thoughts?


	7. Fill the Time

Hi All! So sorry about long wait. College certainly does change your life in ways you never imagined! I'm trying! This is sort of a filler chapter. Please review!

Kellan walked through the lower streets of Corus, greeting those he recognized as regulars among the bustle of lower city life as well as the shop keepers that sold what they could of their wares from their shop carts. He was happy and felt so free being able to safely walk these streets. No one their judged him for wearing the clothes he wore, acting the way he acted and most of all, doing what he enjoyed the most.

He was just walking back to his quarters after a very productive defence class with some Mutt Piddle Lane mots that wished to have the ability to ward off unwanted suitors. After taking a quick but careful look at his surroundings, to make sure no one out of the usual was watching, he ducked into the door that entered into an entrance way. This area served as a front to cover the secret door which led to his rooms in the palace.

Returning to the rooms, Kellan returned to the proper mindset of his actual identity, Keladry of Mindelan. She unpacked her bag that contained her practice clothes, knife and the groceries she had procured for that week. She had been able to practice meal planning and her cooking skills, honing them over the last month to the point where she was able to eat a decent meal without burning too much of it. It was one of the many things that she realized wasn't taught to the pages or squires, and yet it was something required in everyday life just to live.

After putting everything away and eating a quick snack, she prepared herself for her evening workout, which consisted of cardio and strength training in a circuit sequence. This workout regime had been carefully formulated to fit Kel and her training style. She was able to figure this out herself from yet another one of the books she found in the library.

Once she had completed her regime, and had worked up a decent sweat, she drew herself a bath and began washing away the grime and worry of the day. Having had no time during the day to sit back and reflect, she decided to do so now.

The summer months of the break between years of page training were quickly coming to an end and throughout her search of all the rooms contained in her wing, she had discovered another door that led to a main quarter in the pages wing. Unfortunately, this discovery also led to the one that forced her to sprint and dodge back to her old room as this new door was only one way. You could enter the room from it, but you could not leave the room by that door. it automatically locked and hid itself from view once closed. Come the new school year, she would have to find out who and be aware that she had two neighbours that had the potential to find her.

Hope you enjoyed!


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